Pentagon: Despite US airstrikes, Kobane will likely fall to IS

World Today

A series of U.S.-led air strikes hit ISIL targets around Kobani Wednesday, destroying vehicles and artillery pieces. But are those airstrikes enough to push back Islamic State militants? CCTV America’s Jim Spellman reports.

Despite nine U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against ISIL targets near Kobane, Syria, along the Turkish border, Pentagon officials said the town will likely fall to the terrorists.

U.S. officials said the problem is that there are no ground troops in Syria to finish the job after the airstrikes. In Iraq, the U.S. works with Iraqi Security Forces and the Kurdish Peshmerga.

“That sort of ground operation doesn’t currently exist in Syria right now, and that will limit the effectiveness of the United States military to have the same kind of impact on the situation in Kobane,” said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary.

Efforts to train Syrian rebels to battle ISIL will take at months, and there is no guarantee those forces will be effective.

The U.S. is pushing Turkey to take on a direct role fighting ISIL, but until a viable ground-troop option develops in Syria, Washington is lowering expectations and looking beyond.

For more on the fight against ISIL and its advance on Kobane, CCTV America spoke to Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a professor at Georgetown University’s security studies program.